Bill would end overtime pay requirement for many more IT workers

Hopefully this helps all my ppl working in IT... tell me what you think of this

According to ArsTechnica:

A bill recently introduced in Congress would greatly expand the exemption to the Fair Labor Standards Act for IT employees, ending overtime benefits for many more types of workers, including network, database and security specialists.
Among other things, the FLSA mandates that employees get time-and-a-half overtime pay for working more than 40 hours in a week, unless they are executives or specifically exempted from the law's protection. There are already many exemptions, and the current text related to IT workers exempts "any employee who is a computer systems analyst, computer programmer, software engineer, or other similarly skilled worker," whose primary duties fall under categories including "systems analysis techniques and procedures," and "design, documentation, testing, creation, or modification of computer programs."
But a bill sponsored by Sen. Kay Hagan (D-NC), titled the "Computer Professionals Update Act," takes the exemption's 131-word text and bumps it up to 205, adding job classes such as database and network specialists and security professionals along the way. The proposed text exempts "any employee working in a computer or information technology occupation (including, but not limited to, work related to computers, information systems, components, networks, software, hardware, databases, security, internet, intranet, or websites) as an analyst, programmer, engineer, designer, developer, administrator, or other similarly skilled worker," with primary duties including "the application of systems, network or database analysis techniques and procedures, including consulting with users, to determine or modify hardware, software, network, database, or system functional specifications."
The bill would also label all employees listed in the exemption as part of the "bona fide executive, administrative, or professional" class exempt from overtime and minimum wage laws. However, the proposed modification keeps the exemption's current text limiting affected employees to those who are on salary or make at least $27.63 an hour.
An IT administrator who blogged about the bill notes that "I think that I may have originally underestimated the importance of this bill to us SysAdmins in the United States…see, I was under the impression that we were almost all salaried and exempt—in other words, that overtime wasn’t an option anyway. I’ve been informed by a couple of friends of mine that this isn’t the case at all, and that there are a lot of hourly SysAdmins who get overtime."
According to Govtrack.us, Hagan's bill was referred to the Committee on Health Education, Labor, and Pensions, on Oct. 20, helpfully noting that "the majority of bills and resolutions never make it out of committee." But if you want to tell Sen. Kagan what you think about limiting overtime pay for IT pros, a contact form is on the senator's website.

Vybz Kartel has reportedly broken out of prison

According to MTV UK:
Dancehall star Vybz Kartel has reportedly broken out of prison in his native Jamaica after holding an officer at gunpoint.

Kartel, real name Adidja Palmer, allegedly started a riot at the Horizon Adult Remand Centre, where he was being held whilst under investigation over his possible involvement in up to seven murders.

It is reported that Kartel and several other prisoners managed to take control of the prison shortly after 1am local time this morning (30/11/11), taking clothes and keys from guards before escaping in a prison maintenance pickup truck at approximately 1.45am.

One police officer is thought to have died of a heart attack during the escape with at least twelve others injured, including two who were shot with guns apparently smuggled into the prison ahead of the raid.

The Force Commissioner of Jamaica's Criminal Investigations Branch has confirmed that Kartel, who has previously worked with the likes of Eminem, Jay-Z and Akon, is on the run and that he and the other escapees are now on the island's most wanted list.

At 12.20pm GMT today (30/11/11), a tweet purporting to be from Kartel's Twitter account hit the micro-blogging site, cryptically just saying "Ahoee'.
It has yet to be confirmed whether the tweet was genuinely sent by Kartel, or whether his account has been hacked.

[Video] Drake SNL Skit: Digital Short With Andy Samberg

this is funny as hell

[Video] Drake SNL Skit "Bag Jackin'" With Jay Pharoah

lol!

Become part of the Green Monster Movement for the new year @ohsheglows

Green Monster Movement:

Now, I blend together kale or spinach, milk (almond or soy), fruit, seeds, powders, etc. and come up with some amazing Green Monster drinks! I have noticed a HUGE increase in my energy, along with a decrease in cravings for sweets.

Check out recipes like this:

Virgin Green Monster
Ingredients:

• 2 cups organic spinach
• 1-1.25 cups milk (your choice of cow’s milk, soy, hemp, almond, rice, etc)
• 1 tablespoon flax (optional)
• 1 banana
• ice

Directions:
Hi there, Are you a Green Monster first-timer? Have no fear! This recipe is fool proof. Even the biggest skeptic will love this one. Place the ingredients into the blender in the following order: 1) Flax, 2) spinach, 3) banana, 4) milk. The reason for this order is so the heavier ingredients weigh down the flax and spinach and keep it from flying up around the blender and sticking to the side. Blend everything on the highest setting for 1 minute or so. Finally, add ice and blend on the ice setting. Pour into a large, fancy glass. Sit back, gulp it down, and be prepared to have endless energy!

[Video] - Justin Bieber Hot 97 Exclusive Freestyle

Justin does it well. He's not that bad of a rapper; kid got talent.

AK47 Cufflinks!!

Thx Blogtoread

That latter part is no joke. Fonderie 47 items will all contain metal from AK-47s. In fact, the purpose of the brand is help rid Africa of assault rifles – the most common of which is the Russian-made AK-47. The durable and universally known machine gun that takes a lot of abuse will now find its way into high-end men’s and women’s items. For launch the brand is starting with a couple of rings and these cufflinks. Overtime they will release more items – all done as partnerships with some of the world’s best designers and craftspeople. And yes, at least one watch is coming.

The idea is simple. The sales of these high-end items will help raise funds that will go to organizations to be used to literally buy and destroy guns in Africa that are often used as currency. The availability of the guns had numerous negative effects ranging from violence to the abuse of woman and children. Since they are often used in trade, Fonderie 47 learned a while ago that in Africa you could literally buy up gun in exchange for currency, and then destroy them.

They claim that the sale of one pair of cufflinks is enough to fund the purchase and destruction of 100 assault rifles in Africa. Fonderie 47 was started by John Zapolski and Peter Thum. I actually sat down for a while with John last year to interview him about Fonderie 47, its products, and all the nitty-gritty details about guns in Africa

Express from Sprint™

Specs:

Operating system
Android 2.3

Battery information
1500 mAh

Talk time
6.0 hours

Dimensions
4.47" x 2.47" x 0.46"

Display
2.6" QVGA 240x320

Weight
4.76 oz

Memory
512MB ROM user memory / 512 RAM / Allows up to 32GB SD card storage

Bluetooth profiles
A2DP, AVRCP, GAVDP, HFP 1.5, PBAP, GOEP, SDAP/SDP, DUN, OPP, vCard3, SPP, PAN

Motorola Mobility Stockholders Approve Merger with Google

Motorola Mobility Stockholders Approve Merger with Google

Nov. 17, 2011
LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. – Nov. 17, 2011 – Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: MMI) (“Motorola Mobility”) today announced that at the Company’s Special Meeting of Stockholders held today, stockholders voted overwhelmingly to approve the proposed merger with Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) (“Google”).
Approximately 99 percent of the shares voting at today’s Special Meeting of Stockholders voted in favor of the adoption of the merger agreement, which represented approximately 74 percent of Motorola Mobility’s total outstanding shares of common stock as of the October 11, 2011 record date for the Special Meeting.
Sanjay Jha, chairman and CEO of Motorola Mobility, said, “We are pleased and gratified by the strong support we have received from our stockholders, with more than 99 percent of the voting shares voting in support of the transaction. We look forward to working with Google to realize the significant value this combination will bring to our stockholders and all the new opportunities it will provide our dedicated employees, customers, and partners.”
As previously announced on August 15, 2011, Motorola Mobility and Google entered into a definitive agreement for Google to acquire Motorola Mobility for $40.00 per share in cash, or a total of approximately $12.5 billion. The Company previously disclosed that it expected the merger to close by the end of 2011 or early 2012. While the Company continues to work to complete the transaction as expeditiously as possible, given the schedule of regulatory filings, it currently believes that the close is expected to occur in early 2012. It is important to note however, that the merger is subject to various closing conditions, and it is possible that the failure to timely meet such conditions or other factors outside of the Company’s control could delay or prevent the Company from completing the merger altogether.

BlackBerry 7 smartphones dying in sleep, company confirms

Thx BGR

There have been reports of BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930 devices failing to power on after being left to charge all night. Late Friday evening, RIM confirmed the issue by saying a “limited number of customers have reported an issue where their device does not power on.” A RIM spokesperson said the company is “actively working on a software update to resolve this issue.” There’s no word on how many devices are failing, but there seems to be quite a few of them as the company’s support board is filling up with complaints.